What Victrola records are rare?

Answer 1

Long before digital sound recording technology, and even before the widely popular use of magnetic tape recording, musical recordings were available on analog media like cylinders and later disks. Victor made shellac disks that played at 78 rpm (rotations per minute); these were available between 1901 and 1958. They were very brittle, and each side of the typically 10-inch diameter disk gave only a few minutes of music. To hear works of major length one needed to frequently change sides of the disks (later disks were imprinted on both sides; the first one were imprinted only on one side) and works of major length had to be produced in sets of multiple disks. Recordings from this time are extremely interesting, even if the fidelity isn't nearly comparable to that produced with modern technology. Victrola was a term most often used to describe the machine upon which such records were played.

Francis Plante (1839-1934), a French Pianist who in his youth heard Chopin perform, and who himself performed with Liszt, had one of the longest careers in music, and was one of the first artists to produce analog recordings.

Later, analog technology improved, and 'long-playing' disks became popular. These were 12 inches in diameter and made to play at 33 1/3 rpm, and were less brittle than their 78rpm cousins. They were typically made of vinyl, were less easily broken, and gave superior sound. RCA Victor and several other companies produced many extremely high quality recordings in this 33 1/3 analog format. Some will argue that digital technology, excellent as it is, doesn't quite capture the warmth of some of the better vinyl analog offerings. This format supported stereo recordings as well.

Many young people today have no idea about these disk-format analog recordings, and others who have heard of them may never have heard them play. Even the better vinyl 33 1/3 disks were prone to problems like scratching. Once scratched you simply had to live with the 'tick-tick-tick' that you got for the duration of the scratch. If not kept perfectly flat, the disks would warp, producing an extremely unpleasant slight rise and fall in pitch as the cartridge (needle) waved up and down the 'hills and valleys' of the disk's surface. Pressures on the tone arm (the extension to which was attached the pick-up cartridge) would sometimes cause the cartridge to skip forward or back until adjusted. Maintaining a record collection was quite a lot of work back then.

Answer 2

Victrola